


Pre-Valentine's Day Jitters

by ladynaserath



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Culture, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attraction, Confessions, Confusion, Cute, Desire, Don’t copy to another site, Enemies to Friends, Exile, Fluff, Foreign Language, Frustration, Galra Empire, Help, Hugs, Language Barrier, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Understanding, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, shotor, soft Shotor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-10-20 00:42:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17612174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladynaserath/pseuds/ladynaserath
Summary: Fustraston and a desire to do something nice for Prince Lotor has the Black Paladin in his room with crumpled papers scattered around him.Just has he is about to give up he hears a nock at the door...Will the one that's on the other side of the door be able to help Shiro or will they do the exact opposite? I guess you will have to read to find out. ;)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok this is a little(ish) Pre-Valentine’s headcannon that popped into my head as I was scrolling through tumblr.

Valentine’s Day is coming up soon and Shiro knows it. He also knows that the one he wants to do something special for, is someone who has no clue what Valentine’s Day even is. So then, why does the Paladin feel like there is so much pressure on him to do something nice for Lotor? Probably, because it has been a rough past few months for Prince Lotor with his Father, his Generals, and everyone else in the Castle.

Many pieces of crumpled up paper litter the Paladin’s desk and the surrounding floor. They are each filled with different Valentine’s Day ideas that could be nice for him to do for the Prince. Shiro has been writing the ideas down and rereading them for hours now. Deciding that each idea that he comes up with is stupid, he then crumples it up and tosses it aside.

As Shiro finishes writing his latest attempt and begins to reread it, Lotor starts to walk down the hall. Shiro drags his fingers through the white part of his hair pulling it back in frustration as he finishes reading this attempt at coming up with something good. After a couple of ticks he crumples that one up as well and tosses it aside. The Paladin then makes a loud frustrated noise and slams his fist on the desk. At this point the Prince is just passing his room and hears the sound.

Lotor stops in his tracks and looks back at the door. He is not positive but he thinks that room and voice belongs to the Black Paladin. He stands there for a couple ticks trying to decide if he should investigate or just keep walking as if he had heard nothing.

Before the Prince can fully decide what he’s going to do. He hears a grown that almost sounded like a growl and then another loud thump.

Lotor sighs and approaches the door quietly. He slowly raises his hand and lightly knocks on the door. There is silence for a few ticks and the Prince almost turns to leave, but he stops when he hears a faint “Enter.” coming from inside the room.

Lotor is positive that it is Shiro on the other side of the door now. Which is a relief because the other Paladins tolerate his presents a lot less. At lest with the Black Paladin he knows that they can be civil with each other.

The Prince opens the door slowly unsure of what exactly he will find on the other side of it. Once the door is fully open, he sees that Shiro is at his desk, but he has his head down and is not looking in the direction of the door.

Lotor remains silent taking in the sight before him. He sees the balls of papers scattered around the Paladin and he looks almost like he is defeated. This is something the Prince has never seen from him before now. He has always shown strength whenever Lotor has encountered him before.

Shiro’s voice is faint and slightly muffled when he speaks. “What is it?…Is there something wrong?”

The Prince sighs and steps into the room closing the door behind him. Shiro does not move as he waits for an answer. He hears the door close and he assumes it is one of the other Paladins. He waits for them to ask him what’s wrong or if he is ok, but there is still silence.

Lotor lingers by the door unsure if he should move closer to the Paladin or just stay where he is. After a few more ticks Shiro’s voice comes again. “What is it?…Do you have something to tell or ask me?” Still he gets no response. If he did not know any better he would think that there was no one there.

The Paladin sighs and raises his head rubbing his eyes. “If you come to check on me I am….” He stops speaking as he finely looks towards the door to see who is standing there.

Shiro’s eyes widen and he raises his eyebrows in shock as he sees that it is Prince Lotor that has entered his room. The Prince raises an eyebrow at him slightly amused by the shocked look on the Paladins face. He takes a couple small steps closer to Shiro.

“I take it by the look on your face that you were not expecting me?” The Paladin shakes his head but does not speak. “Hmm, right… no doubt you were probably expecting one of the other Paladins?” Shiro nods and still says nothing just looking at Lotor in disbelief. “I…was just…making sure that everything is ok…but if your not going to speak to me I will just go then.”

As Lotor turns to leave Shiro panics and finely finds his voice again. “No! Wait! I do not want you to leave quite yet…”

The Prince stops and turns back to face the Paladin. He smirks at him, “So you do remember how to speak.”

Shiro can feel his face starting to get more and more warm. Mostly because he just basically word vomited at Prince Lotor. Despite this he nods again “Yes I do remember how…you…ah…you…just through me off guard…like you said, I was…not expecting to see you…” The Paladin knows his face is noticeably red now.

Lotor takes in his words and notices the redness that has appeared on his face. “I see.”

Shiro swallows before trying to speak again. “Did…ju…You came to check on me? Really?”

The Prince folds his arms, raising an eyebrow again, “Yes…” He sighs, “I heard the loud noises coming from this room and I decided to investigate…”

“I see…” The Paladin looks at the floor then back at him. “…thank you…but I am fine…I just…was trying to work something out and I have not been having much luck.” He scratches the back of his head and laughs nervously.

“Were you trying to work out a strategy or something?“ Lotor starts to move to pick up some of the papers on the floor “Let’s see what you’ve got, maybe I can be of some help to you.”

Shiro’s eyes widen, “No, you don’t have to do that I will…” But it was too late Lotor had already started to read some of the papers. The Paladin went quite as he helplessly watched the Prince read and he hope that he could not read his language.

“Hmm…I forgot that you don’t wright in Altean or Galran.”

“Yep your right I don’t… so you really don’t…” Shiro falls silent as Lotor raises a hand as if to wave his words away and continues to focus on the papers.

After a few more Doboshes the Prince finely speaks to Shiro. “So I have been able to decipher your strange characters that you wright with.”

Shiro’s heart sinks a little “You have?”

Sounding slightly impatient “Yes I have. I have studied many alien languages over my life time so deciphering your’s was not that hard for me…However…” The Prince looks back at the papers. “There are a couple things I don’t understand and I would appreciate it if you would explain them to me. First this Val…en…tine’s thing…what is it? Is it a code word for something?” Lotor looks at the Paladin waiting for an answer.

Crap! The Prince really had been able to figure it out. If he was not so nervous about what he would think after he fully understood what was written. He would be even more impressed with Prince Lotor’s skills.

Shiro can feel his face becoming really warm again. “And what else do you have a question about…?” He tries not to let his voice crack but it does a little.

“Are you not going to answer my first question?” Lotor folds his arms again.

The Paladin closes his eyes for a tick or two. Then looks back to the Prince, “No, I will answer your question…I…ah…owe you that much at least… I just want to know all of them in case one has to do with the other…“

Lotor relaxes a little “I see…well ok then…Why am I mentioned in these?” He gestures to the papers in his hand.

After a few ticks Shiro takes a deep breath and the Prince watches him as he waits for an answer. “Valentine’s Day…is a holiday that is celebrated back on Earth… It’s a day were many people do something special for someone they care about. Most of the time they give them cards, little gifts, or arrange a nice meal for them… A lot of the time people do these things for there spouses or partners but not always.” The Paladin pauses looking up at Lotor trying to read his expression. But there is not really one to read… he is just watching and listening.

The Prince raises his eyebrow “You have still not tolled me why my name is mentioned.”

Shiro nods “Right…um…” He sighs “It's Because I wanted…to do something special…for you.” His can feel his heart beating fast as he waits for a reaction to what he has said.

“Why? I am neither your spouse nor partner… So…then…does…that mean you Care about me?… Which does not make much sense…to me because we don’t know each other well enough for that…”

Shiro sighs “Yea I know…But…you have been through so much lately. With your Father making you an enemy to the Empire, your Generals turning on you, coming to live here in the Castle of Lions, and everything that comes with that…the good and the bad… You have lost pretty much everything that was normal for you…I…I know how that feels…to be constantly surrounded by things you’re not used to…So that’s partly why I wanted to do something nice for you… and I thought I could use Valentine’s as an excuse.

“You said ‘partly’…if that’s only part of the reason, what is the other part?”

Shiro’s face starts to go extremely warm again. “Um..The…ah… Other part…is because…I want to get to know you better. I have noticed that the more time I spend with you, the more things I find that I like about you.” He pauses, looking for a reaction, but all he sees is the same thing as before. Lotor looking at him and listening to what he saying. “The first time…we met, I could tell right away that fighting you was going to be different…and not just because you are a lot smaller then most of my other opponents…That fight…“ Shiro pauses, closing his eyes for a tick trying only to focus on the fight with the Prince and not anything else from that time.

It is not hard for Lotor to figure out why he stopped talking. He knows the Arena well and what the prisoners of the Galra Empire do there. The whole reason that fight had even happened was because he wanted to see the Champion’s skills up close.

Reopening his eyes, “There was a few things I learned from that fight. 1. You are an extremely skilled fighter 2. Your movements are so fluid and graceful I was amazed….still am 3. You are extremely intelligent and a skilled strategist and 4. Once I was able to get a good look at you… You took my breath away… you’re gorgeous and I find you extremely attractive. You also impressed me just now… with how fast you deciphered my writing. With every new thing I learn about you, the more attractive you become to me… So that’s pretty much the other part… basically I find you attractive and want to get to know you better.”

The Prince remained silent for a few ticks. “I see…that does explain a few things.” He looks back down at the papers for a few Doboshes thinking. Shiro’s heart races as he watches Lotor reread them. He even picks up a few more and reads them too. He glances at the Paladin then walks closer to him stopping next to the bed. “Do you mind if I sit here.” He gestures to the bed.

Shiro’s eyes widen a bit but he shakes his head “No, I don’t mind.” The Prince nods “Thanks.” He then sits down on to the side of the bed facing the Paladin and then goes back to reading. At this point Shiro has no Idea what is going on but he decides not to question it. He also can’t believe that Prince Lotor is Sitting on His bed right now!

Looking back at the Paladin, “Are there any of these, that you like more then the others?” Shiro just blinks at him for a few ticks before he finely speaks. “Um…I guess these here…” He straightens out a few more that were laying on the desk and then hands them to the Prince. He nods then begins to read them.

Not being able to take the uncertainty any more “Um…Prince Lotor…what… is it that you are doing…and why?” Lotor looks up seeing a vary confused look on the Paladin’s face.

He raises his eyebrow, “Obviously I’m reading what you have… I told you I would see if I could help you and I intend to try to do just that. As for the why…I don’t know… partly because I want to see what you would come up with… and partly because… I don’t find you unattractive.” He gives Shiro a small smile before going back to reading. The Paladin watches him with wide Eyes and thinks ‘Did he just say that he thinks I am Attractive too!?’

After Lotor is done reading he picks out 10 papers and hands them to a wide eyed Shiro. “I would look over these again and see if you can’t come up with something that you fully like. Maybe try combining somethings and getting rid of others.” The Princes smirks at him and then reaches forward to run his fingers through the white part of the Paladin’s hair. “I would not give up just yet.” Lotor then stands and walks towards the door.

Shiro watches him leave, but before the Prince can open the door, “Lotor wait.” He freezes, unsure of how to feel about being addressed so casually, but he turns to face the Paladin anyway. Shiro stands and closes much of the distance between them. He looks slightly up in to the Prince’s eyes. Then deciding to throw caution to the wind he slips his arms under Lotor’s and wraps them around him gently hugging him, “Thank you.” He closes his eyes and rests the side of his face against the Prince’s chest. 

Now its Lotor’s turn to be shocked and confused. For one thing he is not used to anyone showing this much affection for him. For another he is not use to someone touching him so gently. After a few more ticks, he is able to process things a bit. Lotor tries to copy the Paladin’s actions by lightly but a little awkwardly wrapping his arms around him in return. “Your welcome.”

The Prince loosens his grip after a few more ticks and Shiro does the same even though he does not really want to. He takes a couple steps back to allow him room to open the door. The Paladin smiles at him and Lotor gives him a small smile in return. He reaches out, running his fingers through the white part of Shiro’s hair again, then turns and leaves.

The Paladin stares at the door for a few Doboshes, wondering if that really just happened… Shiro then shakes his head and goes back to his desk with new motivation to figure out something to do for Prince Lotor for Valentine’s Day.

~~

Lady Naserath


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro is still having trouble making a decision on what he is going to do for Valentine's Day. So he decides to take a walk and runs into a few of the others in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok originally I had planned to get this done before Valentine's Day....but...yeah...that happend...so I figured I would post it in chapters of what I got so far.

Shiro sits at his desk with his head in his hands. Staring at the papers that lay across it. Even though there is no longer crumpled papers scattered around his room, the Paladin felt no closer to figuring things out then he had a quintent ago... or was it three now? He has lost track... for all Shiro knew it had been pheebs and he would still feel like he as gotten no ware.

As he tried to remember how long he as been trying to figure out what to do for the Prince for Valentine's Day. Shiro realises that he was not even thinking about the task at hand now. With a heavy sigh the Paladin Stands up and stretches a little before walking out the door. He wanders the Halls not really knowing where he is going. Just kind of letting his feet take him wherever and thinking about what Valentine treat he could do for Lotor.

When Shiro finally looks around, he finds that his feet have brought him into the kitchen and Hunk is there talking to himself as he makes a snack.

Hunk turns around and sees Shiro standing in the door way. At first he looked surprised but then a warm smile crossed his face. "Hay Shiro, I did not hear you come in...I made my self a snack but I made plenty if you would like some?" The Black Paladin returns his warm smile and nodded "Sure, that would be nice. Thank you Hunk." The Yellow Paladin, set down his own plate and started fixing Shiro one. Once he was done he Set it down on the table were Shiro had moved too and the two of them began to eat. 

"Mmm, Hunk this is really good!" He smiled at the younger Paladin. Hunks face had an even bigger smile on it now. "Good, I am glad you like it! Sometimes when I cook with these alien ingredients I am not always sure they will come out how I want them too. So I am glad you like it!" They ate without talking for a while before the other Paladin broke the silence again. "aah... Shiro... I hope you don't mind me saying but...you look awful. Is everything okay?" He paused before adding," You have in your room alot lately... for the last few quintents for sure... so I was just... wondering if you are ok...?" Hunk looked at his leader with concern, slightly unsure of what his reaction will be.

To his relief Shiro gives him another warm smile before saying "Yes Hunk, I am ok...I have...just been trying to figure something out and have not had much luck with it." He gives a light laugh to try and reassure the younger Paladin that he is ok. "Ok...swh... I was getting a little worried there for a minute but if you really ok..?"

He nods "Yes I am really ok."

"Ok good! So aah... what are you trying to figure out? Is it anything I can help with?"

Shiro gives a nervous laugh in scratches the back of his head. "Unless you can teach me how to cook like you do in a couple of days... I don't think so. I think this is something I have to figure out for myself" he laughs again.

Hunk gives him a confused look but laughs a little nervously "I mean...If you want me too...I guess I could try to teach you something...? But... aah... why would that be helpful to you?" The Black Paladin laughs again "To be onist... I not even sure that it would be helpful. Well at least not in any other way then simply becoming a little better at cooking. Forget I said anything, it's not a big deal." The Yellow Paladin looks at him for a few ticks with a qustion on his face, but he decides not to push his luck so he smiles and says, "Ok... Just let me know if you change your mind."

After that Shiro takes care of his plate and thanks Hunk for the food, before leaving the kitchen. The Paladin starts wandering around again ending up in the Lounge. As the Paladin enters he is so lost in his own thoughts that he did not realize there was someone else in the room reading from a data pad. He Flops on to the long couch in the middle of the room with a loud grone. Muttering something about it being hopeless and not being able to pull something off in time.

The one in the corner looks up from his data pad, watching the Paladin for a few Dobashes. Before speaking in a calm but slightly annoyed voice. "Now I know this is not my Ship... so I don't have any right to give you any orders.... But if you don't mind, I would greatly appreciate it, if you could do that a bit more quietly? I am trying to focus on what I am reading and you are being vary distracting right now." Shiro froze at the sound of the voice, terrified that someone had overheard him. To make matters worse the voice that he was hearing belong to Prince Lotor.

The Paladin sits up slowly and peers over the couch to look in the direction that he heard the voice comming from. Sure enuff, there he was sitting in the corner resting the side of his face on his hand. The Prince had an eyebrow arched as he looks at Shiro waiting for a response. The Paladin looked at him and scratched the back of his head nervously "Yeah I can do that... Sorry about that I did not realize anyone was in here." 

"Obviously not!"

"Sorry, I can be quiet now." As he spoke he could feel his face getting warmer and warmer.

"Thank You! I much appreciate it!" Lotor then returned his gaze to the data pad and continued reading.

Shiro let out a quiet sigh and let his body flop back down on the couch. The Paladin brings his hands up to cover his face in embarrassment. Ugh, how could he be such an Idiot, now he really doubted that even if he did manage to come up with something Lotor would like the Prince would not even care! Shiro feels like he messed up so much just now. 

Mean while Lotor keeps stealing glances towards the Paladin unable to focus on what he was doing before. He gives a small sigh before putting down the data pad and walks quietly over to the couch. When the Prince looks down at him, he sees that Shiro has his face covered. So Lotor watchs him for a few Dobashes, waiting to see if he is going to move is hands anytime soon. For a few ticks the Prince gets lost in the way his chest rises and falls with each breath Shiro takes. 

Shaking his head and trying to refocus, Lotor crosses his arms then leans on the back of the couch. Letting his hair fall forward over his shoulder. It lightly touches the Paladin's arm. Shiro instinctively freezes and holds his breath. He had not been expecting anything to touch him. Once the Paladin's mind remembers that he is not the only one in the room. He takes a few cautious breaths trying to calm his nerves. He then slowly opens his eyes. Looking through his fingers, surprised to see Prince Lotor so close to him. 

Lotor arches his eyebrow at him. "Am I right in thinking that you are still not having much luck in making a decision?" Shiro closes his eyes and completely hides his face again. After afew more ticks the Paladin sighs and drags his hands down his face. When he reopens his eyes and looks up at the Prince, his breath gets stuck in his chest. Shiro had not seen Prince Lotor looking down at him quite like this before. The last time the Prince had look down at him at all was when he was a prisoner of the Galra Empire. The look Lotor gave him then was one of mockery and dominance, but this one... was soft and puzzled, simpley just waiting for a response to his question and it took Shiro's breath away. 

Lotor was starting to wonder if he was ever going to get a response so he prompted him. "Well?...Are you going to answer me or just continue to stare?" Shiro took in a sharp breath, not wanting to disappoint the Prince any more then he already has... "Yeah...your right... and I am sorry." Shiro hid his face behind his hands again. Lotor rolled his eyes before reaching down to pull his hands away from his face. "Why do you keep putting your hands over your face like that?" The Paladin just blinks at him for a few ticks before saying "ah...I don't know..." Man it was hard for him to think right now with Lotor leaning over him. Shiro started to wonder what he would look like... No! no! Stop that! Now is not the time for that. He shut his eyes again trying not to picture what he had started to think about, but the grip that the Prince had on his wrists was not helping anything.... except maybe help get him in to more trouble than he was already in.

"Shiro?" His voice really had a slight tone of annoyance in it now. The Paladin opened his eyes real fast "Huh..." 

"Would you like some more help?"

"I...ah...I don't know...I don't want to bother you again..." Shiro could feel his face getting warmer and warmer with every word.

"It's to late for that, you have already bothered me today." Shiro started to say something that sounded like the start of an apology but Lotor cut him off "besides, I am offering to help again its not like you are making me do it... and I can't say I am particularly ok with you sulking around like this." Shiro could have swore he saw something like blush creep over Lotor's face, but it had gone as quickly as it came so he could not be sure.

Lotor straightened his posture, "Shall we?" All the Paladin could do was blink up at him for several ticks before slowly saying "Ok... If your sure?" He felt like he should give Lotor one last out just in case. "Yes, I am quite sure." The Prince then walked to the other side of the couch and offered Shiro his hand to help him up. He looked between Lotor's face and his hand several times before he slowly accepted it. Letting himself be effortlessly helped into a standing position.

~~  
Lady Nazareth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so yeah that's part of what happens next there is still more to come. It has kinda gotten a way from me...lol I hope you liked this ch.
> 
> Feel free to comment and/or leave Kudos lol :)
> 
> Lady Nazareth

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like it and I am happy with how it turned out. I love these two a little to much lol but I am not sorry lol. 
> 
> Feel free to leave kudos or/and Comment! :) lol ;)


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